


Cracked Orbs

by Kiyana



Series: Crosses and Foxes [2]
Category: Faith (Airdorf Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Creatures & Monsters, Demonic Possession, Gen, I'm pretty sure these things can't happen to kitsunes but like :], In a sense, Mythological Inaccuracies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-16
Updated: 2020-03-16
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:55:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23173528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kiyana/pseuds/Kiyana
Summary: Garcia had initially ignored his gut feelings when he woke up, blaming it on waking up abruptly and not getting enough sleep. But this was hours later, and John still had yet to return to the church. He’d left a few days ago, citing the need to check up on a friend of his, and said that he’d return today, long before the sun dropped below the horizon.The sun had long since set, and now Garcia was starting to regret ignoring his gut.
Relationships: John Thomas Ward & Father Garcia
Series: Crosses and Foxes [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1665841
Kudos: 6





	Cracked Orbs

Something about today felt genuinely wrong. Garcia had initially ignored his gut feelings when he woke up, blaming it on waking up abruptly and not getting enough sleep. But this was hours later, and John still had yet to return to the church. He’d left a few days ago, citing the need to check up on a friend of his, and said that he’d return today, long before the sun dropped below the horizon.

The sun had long since set, and now Garcia was starting to regret ignoring his gut.

“I should go look for him…” he muttered to himself, his tails shifting behind him. He anxiously began tapping one of his feet, a frown set into his features as he decided that was probably the better of the options he had. He turned towards one of the church’s side doors as he hurried up into one of the decks to look for his coat, and his spirit orb, stumbling over his feet and cursing the clumsiness of his human form. 

The church was one of those slightly old style American buildings, small, but large enough for a clan of Kitsune to live comfortably. The bottom floor had originally been covered in pews, but he and John had moved them towards the walls after they’d discovered the place in an effort to create a sort of gathering space. Two pews, on the other hand, had been flipped around to make a sort of table, which they sometimes ate at when they felt the need. There was a single staircase on each side of the bottom floor, leading up towards a wrap around deck a floor up. They’d left the deck barren, not having any use for it other than a walkway. Connected to the deck was a single backroom, in the back of which was a spiral staircase leading towards the top of the steeple. John had, surprisingly, claimed the backroom as his own, and Garcia knew that he used the room when he wanted to be alone. Since neither of them felt there was any use for the steeple, they blocked the door using one of the pews from downstairs, and used it as sitting space.

He wrinkled his nose at the clutter of the upstairs backroom, walking around John’s nest of blankets and pillows as he dug around for his things. 

“Damn, we should really look into getting shelves or something.” he grumbled, spotting one of his coat’s sleeves and pulling it free. He reached into one of the pockets and let out a small sigh of relief when he found his orb, before putting his coat on and hurrying back down to the ground floor. He pulled open the heavy doors and, after shifting to hide his tails, stepped out and pulled the doors shut behind him, quickly taking off into the surrounding trees. He hadn’t really thought out how he was going to find John, but despite that, Garcia’s nose was strong, and John’s scent was guiding him. Something about it seemed… wrong, though. It was still very John, smelling of fabric, candle wax, and undertones of the metallic pang of blood, but something about it just smelled… angry. It was making the usual metallic smell stronger, and put Garcia on edge. He was so distracted by the scent, that he nearly ran into his companion and plowed him over.

“John!” he exclaimed, coming to an abrupt stop as he took in his friend’s state. He looked vaguely lost, his tails visible and slightly shaking behind him. His arms were crossed and latched onto one another, like he was trying to comfort himself. John didn’t respond to him, he merely continued to wander for a moment. “John?” Garcia reached out towards his friend, concerned by his lack of response. “Are you alright?” he sat a hand on his shoulder and John stopped moving, instead slowly turning his head to look at him. His eyes were glassy, and looked a little swollen, as though he’d cried for a while and couldn’t anymore.

"... Garcia?" John questioned, sounding confused and vaguely terrified. Garcia opened his mouth to respond, but was suddenly hit by a smell that was definitely  _ not _ John. He released his friend and immediately put space between them, prompting John to begin stumbling in his direction.  **"Garcia…!"** he warbled, sounding both angry and alarmed at his movement.

"You aren't really John!" he growled, his eyes flashing as his canines sharpened. "I can smell it!" John continued to lurch towards him as though he hadn't said a thing.

**"Garcia, come back!"** he called as Garcia continued to keep space between them, sounding hurt.

"You can't trick me!" Garcia's tails rose behind him, bright blue flames forming on their tips as he anticipated having to defend himself. John's grip on his upper arms tightened and he began to shake a little harder, as if he was struggling with himself. He continued to draw closer still, and Garcia braced himself. "Forgive me for what I'm about to do."

**"Gar-"** John was cut off by one of Garcia's flame-covered tails smacking into him and sending him backwards a little, falling to the ground with a harsh thump. A gleam caused the older fox to glance away from John, the sight of the younger fox's blue and silver spirit orb rolling away from him causing him to pause. With a flick of the tail, he hurried after the ball, picking the small thing up and freezing when he could see it better.

It was cracked, small shards of the object having already fallen out either before or during its recent impact with the ground. The jagged crack was lightly smoking and turning a deep, angry red in response to negative stimuli. He stared at the little ball in his hands, an odd feeling rising up in his chest as his mind remained quiet, and blank. A twig cracked behind him, prompting his tails to react for him, wrapping around the imposter's limbs and lifting him up to keep him still. He squirmed, John's tails wrapping around two of Garcia's own and weakly tugging at them.

**"Let me go!"** John's warbled voice begged.  **"Please!"**

"I can't do that." Garcia responded, turning to look at his friend. "Again, forgive me." a white flame appeared around one of Garcia's tails, dragging an awful screech from John's throat as he began to tug, his glassy eyes gleaming murderously. "John wouldn't have this sort of reaction to my holy fire. You aren't John." his friend's eyes began to smoke a little, their glassy appearance intensifying as they teared up.

**_"I was under the impression that this two tailed menace was the only kitsune in this state!"_ ** a deep and angry voice snarled using John's mouth.  **_"They told me he was! They told me that I could have this one! HE'S MINE, FOX!"_ **

"No." Garcia said quietly, his hands closing around John's spirit orb in an attempt to keep it from crumbling even more. "He isn't yours. You  _ will _ let him go." with hardly even a twitch of his tails, all four limbs lit ablaze once more with that white fire, a horrified and slightly pained scream leaving John's throat as he began to smoke, tears streaming down his face in response to whatever was possessing him trying to flee. Garcia winced and forcefully powered through the horrible sound, his hand opening once more to reveal the cracked orb, which was now bathed in white fire. The redness was slowly draining from the orb as the creature tried to claw its way free.

**_"YOU WILL REGRET THIS!"_ ** the creature screeched, and Garcia shook his head.

"No." he tilted his head, more blue fox fire appearing around him. "I won't. Because you won't be around long enough to make me." John's expression turned fearful at that as the blue flames closed in on the smoke.

Everything abruptly fell silent after a few minutes, the smoke blazing as what was left tried to flee. John's orb was slowly crumbling in his hands, the stress of the possession having made it more fragile than before. John himself had fallen limp in his grasp, his tails gently turning around him to cradle him rather than restrain him as he turned and quickly rushed back towards the church. The holy ground would protect them both, something John desperately needed. He felt the younger fox shutter a little when the church doors came into view, Garcia guessed they crossed into the church's boundaries, it was either that, or something worse. He slowed to a walk as they approached, sparing a moment to glance around and make sure they were truly alone. He wasn't picking up any abnormal scents anymore, so he pulled open one of the doors and slid in, closing and locking it behind him.

"Alright." he let out a shaky breath as he turned and lifted John from his tails. "Let's get you upstairs." with little time spared, Garcia turned towards the stairs and started his way up. A small groan left John's mouth, and his eyes slowly slid open, no longer as glassy as they had been prior.

"... Garcia?" he questioned quietly, prompting the older fox to pause momentarily at the top of the stairs as he glanced down at John.

"Hey there." he responded gently, continuing his movement.

"When did I…?" he paused. "Why are you carrying me?" Garcia didn't grace that with a response. "Garcia?"

"John… what happened?" the younger fox blinked owlishly at him as he was placed atop his makeshift nest and allowed to position himself as he wanted. Garcia turned and waited, walking over towards one side of the room and placing John's cracked orb into a small container, then walking back over with it and showing it to him with little fanfare. John paled.

"I-I…" the gray fox shut his mouth with a click of teeth and shook his head.

"John." Garcia gave him a searching look. "You were possessed by a minor demon. Something that shouldn't be possible, given our species. Whatever happened while you were gone led to your orb cracking. I don't even want to know what would have happened to you if it had been completely split open. What happened?" John's arms once again crossed and latched onto one another, Garcia was beginning to recognize the action as genuinely comforting to the younger and didn't comment on it.

"... It was a trap." he finally whispered, ignoring as Garcia sat before him and gave him his full attention. "I got a letter from my friend, she said she wanted to see me. It'd been a while since I'd last met with her, I didn't see any reason not to go, so I went." he shook. "They used her, Garcia. That demon possessing me had originally been possessing her, but when I came to her, they trapped me. I…" he cut himself off, shrinking down into his nest.

"That's enough, John." Garcia said softly, setting a hand on his shoulder. "You don't have to say anything else. I get it." the younger fox let out a quiet keening sound and began tearing up again.

"They hurt me." he choked. "So much." Garcia's expression softened and he gently pulled John into a hug, ignoring as he promptly devolved into hysterics and began soaking his coat with tears. They sat like that for a while, John managing to pull Garcia into the nest in order to maintain contact without leaving it. Garcia didn't really mind, if it made John feel safer then he couldn't bring himself to care.

Eventually, John fell asleep like that, Garcia idly weaving his dreams like he'd started to only months ago as he stared at the contained spirit orb on the ground in front of him. It was still crumbling a little, a few shards having fallen off and settled around the orb like broken glass. It was no longer an angry red around the crack, but it was definitely still smoking, white wisps flowing free and dissipating in the air around them. It needed fixing, but Garcia had absolutely no clue on where to even begin with that process. He'd never been taught how to repair one, since one being damaged this heavily was practically unheard of. Spirit orbs were extremely resilient, to even chip one would take a great deal of power. But to crack one to this extent? He closed his eyes with a quiet sigh, vague anger bubbling up in his chest.

What kind of bastard would do this to such a young fox? Or any fox, for that matter?

Garcia ran a hand through John's hair, that was a stupid question, he had an idea as to who. It had to be the same being whose minions had been harassing and following John for Inari knows how long. A being whose identity he had yet to drag from any of them. He held John closer to himself, a grim and determined look settled on his features.

They hurt John.  _ His _ John. He'd no longer fight the fact that he'd come to care greatly for the younger kitsune, and was even entertaining the idea of them courting once John felt better about himself, and possibly acquired his third tail. He wouldn't deny it, not after tonight's events.

They were going to pay. Every last one of them.

**Author's Note:**

> So, y'know, I'm pretty sure spirit orbs can't be damaged like this? Or at all, for that matter? Also, I don't think Kitsunes can be possessed, they're usually the ones doing the possessing. But, y'know me, I warp things to fit my own narrative sometimes. :]
> 
> A big thank you to Gaysuke_Takahashi for looking over this fic! I sat on this for a few days because I felt dissatisfied with it, y'know. But he said it was great as it was so maybe I was just being really picky, I dunno.
> 
> There will 100% be more Kitsune AU fics in the future. I might possibly pull an OSRASL with this one. Who knows. :]


End file.
